Santa brought me a 31ft toy hauler.
It starts swaying over 55

dealer sold me the round bar equal-I-zer hitch. Im not impressed. First one sheared off the bolts on the sway bracket. (1/2 inch bolts, 5/8 holes. ) It rocked and sheared off a bolt.
Of course now he wants to sell me next model up. Did not offer refund on hitch either. And it has the same bracket.
Dealer also suggested moving some more weight to back of trailer (actually put in 900 lb goldwing)
Trailer site wanted more weight on tongue not less.

Think replacing the almost worn wranglers with something new, mabe a load range "d" like the trailer would stiffen back of f150?

Maybe someone makes an add on sway control bar?

Ecoboost does well with load. At 9mpg at 55mph. Miss my 460cid

 

Sounds like a light weight truck and a big towable. Any chance you can post a picture so we can see your set-up? Can you run it across a scale so we can see how your weight are running on the towable and your truck axles empty and full? You will probably do best with truck and trailer level with about 15% of your trailer gross on the hitch for starters.

I would advise against moving anything until you know your weights. I am sure others have some ideas too.

Steve

 

I used the Reese Dual Cam with my toyhauler. I also tried to get 12% or more on my tongue. Using a scale I was able to get about 10%. Don't really know if it stopped the sway because I never had any. So maybe it worked. It did reduce the bow wave off passing vehicles tho. My hauler was 33', triple axle and came in at 12,000 loaded. Had a 15k gvwr.

 

Towing a 31 foot trailer with a 150???? He has more b- I mean guts than me! He, at least, needs an anti-sway devise.

 

With that size of a toy hauler, you might want to consider Torklift International’s StableLoad Suspension upgrade. As an affordable alternative to sway bars and airbags, the lower quick-disconnect StableLoads would drastically reduce the sway and poor handling you mentioned, as well level out the truck. They also have the ability to engage/disengage, so you can return to factory ride when you’re not towing the toy hauler.
If you have a minute, check out what other users are saying:LINK
Torklift Sheryl

 

This probably won't directly resolve your issue. But if you're towing, I'd be looking at E rated tires only. The selection may be limited depending on your wheel size, but I'm sure they are out there. Ford claims all these crazy towing numbers on the 150's then puts car tires on them. Makes no sense.

I'd have to agree a pic of the setup, and hitch may help.

 

yep, lightweight truck. Ford dealer said it was good for 9500lb, trailer empty 6000, trailer wet 7200, goldwing (hasnt been on yet) 750.and wife didnt want 250 or 350. Visit to scales next time out. trailer empty 600, trailer wet 7200, goldwing (hasnt been on yet) 750.Pics need to come of phone yet. Emailing to myself ruins the quality.

Torquelift. At least with equalizer hitch stock springs seem adaquite

looking at load range e tires. 18 inch rims

I dont have permission for attachments yet

 

So use Photobucket

 

I second the use of Photobucket.

Ford dealers (also Chevy/GMC, Dodge and Toyota) all lie about what weight a truck will haul. The magic number is on the 'B' pillar for you to interpret. You need to look at the truck AND trailer tires for weight rating, size and mostly inflation. Bump them up to sidewall max at least as a trial. You should have a sway bar on the truck, shocks on the trailer, Those leveling bars - they come in different weight ratings. They should be approximately the hitch weight (500/750/1000, etc). Sway controls - don't much care for them, but sometimes they will be just enough - one or two of them. Then there are several hitches like a $$$ Hensley which supposedly reduce sway (Reese, I believe makes one as well). Then balance of the trailer - usually too much rear weight will waggle everything. Above all, don't believe the Ford or trailer dealer. His commission and livelihood depends on sale of a truck or trailer.

 

Just keep chipping away at it. Gather information first to help diagnosis the cause of your problem. Then proceed with changes. The trailer weight you are projecting is not huge. Do the bow waves coming off passing tractor trailers also move you around a great deal?

Steve

 

I notice bow waves at 55, less of a problem then on goldwing.



If I'm working photobucket correctly. 1 pic should be there bracket with 1 bolt sheared off. (just stubs welded on to their first bracket)With this movement at max twist the torsion bar slides off. Even before shearing off there was enough movement between slack in bolt holes and bracket rocking on frame. (not much sway control when it moves around)

Other pic shows home made adapt a kit. My bracket bolts are snug to frame and think this will conquer movement of their bracket. Although I'm still worried about their stubs snapping off.

 

I have tried to research this issue on the Internet and there are reports of bolt failure with high tongue weights, although not common. Rather than attempt a fix, it may have been better to contact the hitch manufacturer directly as once the modification has been made, it removes them from any liability and puts it all on you.

Check your weights would be my suggestion.

Steve

 

Planing on writing them.
This is just a bolt over twist remover. Maybe I wont send the adaptakit repair photo.

Next scheduled trip with trailer is mid august. I dont mind hooking up for a test drive, but I'm still learning backing up, and avoiding it.
I pull past my drive, and hope my first attempt is good. Its a skinny street and short driveway. Not much maneuvering room. Its also at the dead end so I cant drive around the block for a new attempt until I actually get it in drive. If the curb wasnt so tall I could probably get more room to manuver. I think 6 ft would help tons.

 

The single thought I have is to call them rather than write them. I know folks are hesitant to call, but most manufacturers have customer service that will discuss problems and try to help. It gets you in the system faster than writing and they might have a suggestion.

Backing, yeah, depending on the space it can be a challenge. It is a little easier to practice in a parking lot of some such for a while until which way to turn the wheel becomes more automatic. Often when I am back I am thinking "why the crap did I tell myself I needed a dually".

Steve

 

Steve knows his stuff and will give you the straight skinny !!!!

Thanks Steve....


Rustyford, I TOO think the issue is too little truck for the load...

You can do some without the rv...
Go weigh JUST your truck as you would be when towing...
go to a cat scale and for $10 you get up to 3 weights,
1 steer axle (front), 2 drive axle (rear) , and 3 trailer weights...

ADD 1 + 2 = 4 Total TRUCK weight...
now compare 4 to your trucks GVWR - this is the excess carrying capacity you have !
then subtract 2 from rear GAWR
this is the amount of tongue weight you can handle without wdh...

(get your trucks rear GAWR and GVWR from the side pillar placard...)

When I towed too much tt with too little truck, I had a ProPride 3P hitch that did a wonderful job with both sway and wdh, BUT, I had a larger vehicle than yours...

An easier way I learned how to set up the wdh was to measure my wheel well height unloaded, hook up, then adjust wdh to get the wheel well heights close, but make sure the rear is not higher than the unloaded height...

good luck - it's always a salesmen fortune to get limited exposure customers

given what they recommended didn't work, I'd run away from them if they didn't make it good !

with our social media world, I'd offer a facebook post to say JUST the facts on their page... do NOT elaborate at all, just voice your concerns...